1531 Finally found It!
Halt!
The caravans stopped, and the slender man moved his horse to the left corner of the road.
And like so, they branched into the woods, leaving the path.
The trees were spread more openly in these regions, allowing the caravans to move in zig-zag manners about the scene.
--Silence--
Apart from the clanging of the caravans, the huffing sounds from the horses, and the nightly sounds from nature, the scene was quiet, with no one daring to speak.
And in the caravans, a few women were still shifting their tears away, some gloating, some seemingly tired and asleep from crying their eyes out, and of course, a few focused on other important aspects.
In the caravans, the imposters squint their eyes at the tent covering their caged caravan, inwardly making calculations.
'Roughly 11 minutes since we diverted from the path. The horses are suddenly slowing down, meaning we should be close, or there's some obstacle we must pass carefully.'
They took in all details, though they couldn't see anything.
And outside the caravan, the horses were indeed passing through a precarious path in the forest.
It was a gathering of thorny blue roses.
That's right. This particular hill had one major attribute about it... It's many Blue roses of all shoes and sizes.
Some of these roses are ordinary, while others... Well, others bring quite a special surprise to any enemies who don't know its 'value.'
The caravan passed carefully until it reached a giant blue rose, with petals as massive as a single carriage.
Now, it looked sleepy and was relatively harmless.
But during the day, the sun wakes it up, turning it into a blood-sucking flower.
Any being that comes 15 feet close to it would get grappled around its many thorny vines.
.
Yes...
It wasn't an ordinary rose, having over 20 long vines that could stretch out quite well.
And the moment it bruises one and gets hooked on their blood, it never lets the person go until they are mummified.
Such a beauty was the guardian of this hidden passageway during the day. And it had its many babies around the scene too.
This was why during the day, they had less people guarding this sight and also forbade any from using the secret passageway here.
Only at night when the beauty and her many children were asleep, could they move about in this manner.
That's why the caravans passed here when they did. At night, they posted 300 and sometimes 500 people here to guard the site.
Of course, even though the beauty and her children were weakest now... If one accidentally woke the snoring gang up, you best believe these plants would use all their reserve strength to fight till the very end.
This was why they carefully moved the caravans and horses, not daring to step on any vines belonging to them.
Ordinary green vines they could step on. But blue vines were out of the question!
The giant beauty had her petals plumbing down and even toll now, one violent see the hidden passageway, showing how gigantic she was.
Only when very close one could see the beauty was sleeping before a hidden tunnel.
Listening to the news from the air force teams, Lucy tightened her grip on her arm guard shield.
"Copy that. Keep a close watch on how they act around the plant."
[Roger that, ground team. Over.]
Tut...
Alright.
Lucy took in deep breaths.
"Everyone take positions!"
Yes!
.
Holding their weapons, everyone's heart more or less trembled.
No matter how many times they've gone on missions, facing life and death always brought out a wave of emotions hidden within.
Don't get too close to frighten the chicken.
Those were their thoughts while positioning themselves across the bushy forest region.
The air force units assisted, and the gang now surrounded the semi-circular formation the scouts had formed around the hidden passageway.
"Enemy surrounded!"
Good.
Steady... Steady...
With tightened grips on their sniper rifles, they squeezed the levers, secretly counting down in their hearts; 8... 7... 6...
The countdown was on, and heat vision mode was on lock.
And amidst the surrounding scouts a distance away, 2 scouts were leaning on a soaring tree, not knowing danger was fast approaching!
"Hahaha~... I can already see the crowning of the weakling coming to pass." One of them spoke out with a sly grin on his face.
"Hmmm... Now, we, the Society, will have complete control over this poverty-stricken place! Hah! Finally, we get to go home to Morgany for a breather after this!"
"Indeed. There's no place like home."
"Wait!... Do you hear that?"
The duo raised, only to hear a few of their people snoring away!
"These bastards!" One of them yelled angrily, calling into the few on other trees, dozing off.
"What the hell are you guys doing? Don't you know we're supposed to stay alert? Are you deserving of the elite positions you are giving?!!"
The duo had scrunched up faces and were just about to leap onto the nearby trees to smack the living daylight out of these sleeping buffoons.
However, before they could have, they too... Seemed to have been infected by some deadly sleeping insect.
Not good!
Their eyes drained in dizziness.
This one... They felt the bite.
It was an instant bite that made their hands and bodies too heavy to lift.
And on the towering tree, one managed to fall safely, sitting on the tree branch, while the other fell flat down 2-stories high.
Bam!
The sandman was here to take them to Sleepy Land.
Move! Move! Move!
The snipers far away had clearer the entering perimeter, allowing Lucy and the rest to swarm in.
Their focus?... Put everyone to sleep and infiltrate the hideout.
The Cleanup team will care for the sleeping enemies once they get in!
With her heat vision goggles, Lucy loaded her shots and delivered several sweeping hits.
The team wasn't going to let Lucy hug all the glory.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang~
Jump, roll, and run, all the while hiding behind the many trees along the way.
The scene was epic, as the pressure and the need to meet the deadline was choking them whole.
Everyone gritted their teeth, estimating the time on their hearts.
No time! No time! They had to hasten things up!
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang!~
Good shots!
~Plop.
The snoring men dropped like flies in a drunken state.
But if anyone thought things here were already blockbuster, the chaos across the open fortress walls was enough to make one lose all hairs on their head.
"Quickly! Ready the bazookas!"
"All teams, get ready to burst through the walls!"
